Plans for a giant £190 million windfarm on the edge of the Stewartry have been given the green light.

The Scottish Government has granted consent for the 50-turbine South Kyle Windfarm which straddles the border between Dumfries and Galloway and East Ayrshire near Carsphairn.

The 170MW proposal is the work of Swedish firm Vattenfall which plans to offer communities the chance of a five per cent interest in the proposal as well as providing a community benefit fund of £5,000 per MW a year.

Vattenfall’s head of development for onshore wind, Guy Mortimer, said: “This decision is good news for Scotland’s climate change targets and for local people and businesses. The benefits of this project can be significant and wide ranging.

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“Of course there is a long way to go before Vattenfall is able to construct and operate this wind farm but, if constructed, this will be a wind farm that we hope local people and businesses will take pride in.

“The Scottish Government’s consent decision for this scheme is reassuringly robust. The wind farm proposal was scrutinised and carefully considered through a detailed public local inquiry in late 2015.

“As a result, this consent is a clear evidence-based decision that concludes South Kyle is an eminently acceptable proposal.”

However, not everyone agrees.

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Campaigner Alison Chapman of Galloway Landscape and Renewable Energy said: “If wind turbines could really generate enough electricity to justify only the economic cost to us all, there might be cause for discussion.

“As wind is both intermittent and variable it can never justify such cost and certainly not the additional costs to our landscape, our wildlife, our land, our tourism industry and our quality of life.